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I am a total newbie to Linux in general and definitely to Mint. I have been using Windows from version 3.0 to Vista and also spent some time with OS/2 and Windows NT in my time.

I have long thought that I should get to grips with Linux, however it always seemed as though I would need to invest a hell of a lot of time to get it installed, configured and working with everything that I needed just to get going and I simply did not feel that I had the time!

Now though, with distributions such as Mint, it's looking a lot more accessible, so I am looking into it.

My Question:

I only have a basic Advent Laptop, with an inbuilt video chipset, the SiS 672 Series Mirage 3. This works OK with Vista, providing 1280 x 800 and supporting an external screen at a higher resolution than this. I have been looking for a Linux based driver, but have not been able to find one, so it looks as though I would be stuck with a resolution no better than 800 x 600...

Is this true, or am I missing something here?? (Also from the little I have seen, it's not that easy to install a new video driver under Linux. Is that also true for Mint?)

Well the SIS graphics are and always (?) have been rather problematic under any OS I have tested, don't know whyThe driver, called xserver-xorg-video-sis, is installed by default and is not the best but sure works OK and there should be no problem providing 1280 x 1024However 1200 x 800 is a bit odd and it may not like that resolution but I can't see no reason that it should not workOh - at first I did not realize that you had installed - thought you were asking for general adviceThere is no better driver for your chip - we have to do a little bit of editing

In Section "Screen"addModes "1200x800"Save and rebootYou should have 1200x800 nowIt's not difficult to "install" a new graphics driver especially for ATI and nvidia but also for the rest (except possibly Intel - it's so well integrated that it becomes difficult )

Husse is right, and if that doesn't seem to be working, remove any other instances of resolution on that same Modes line. I believe the rightmost entry will always be the one used. I fix this issue by only putting my preferred resolution in each Modes Line.